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Unprovoked vs. Provoked - GSAF defines a provoked incident as one in which the shark was speared, hooked, captured or in which a human drew "first blood". Although such incidents are of little interest to shark behaviorists, when the species of shark involved is known and pre-op photos of the wounds are available, the bite patterns are of value in determining species of shark involved in other cases when the species could not identified by the patient or witnesses. We know that a live human is rarely perceived as prey by a shark. Many incidents are motivated by curiosity, others may result when a shark perceives a human as a threat or competitor for a food source, and could be classed as "provoked" when examined from the shark's perspective.

Incidents involving Boats – Incidents in which a boat was bitten or rammed by a shark are in green. However, in cases in which the shark was hooked, netted or gaffed, the entry is orange because they are classed as provoked incidents.

Casualties of War & Air/Sea Disasters - Sharks maintain the health of the marine ecosystem by removing the dead or injured animals. Many incidents result because, like other animals that don't rely on instinct alone, sharks explore their environment. Lacking hands, they may investigate an unfamiliar object with their mouths. Unlike humans, there is no malice in sharks; they simply do what nature designed them to do. Air/Sea Disasters are accidents that place people into the day-to-day business of sharks. The wartime losses due to sharks result from mans' cruelty to man. Air/Sea Disasters are in yellow.

Questionable incidents - Incidents in which there are insufficient data to determine if the injury was caused by a shark or the person drowned and the body was later scavenged by sharks. In a few cases, despite media reports to the contrary, evidence indicated there was no shark involvement whatsoever. Such incidents are in blue.